What are they?
Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA) and Injuries occur during a car crash. These injuries can range from whiplash to low back pain to a broken bone. These are just a few of the wide range of examples and severities that can come from an MVA.
Information on what causes them?
The cause of these injuries can be just as varying as the injuries themselves. You can be injured from your own body’s reaction to seeing the crash coming. You can be injured from the sudden deceleration of the vehicle. You can be injured from the impact causing something to hit you inside the car.
The signs and symptoms?
The signs and symptoms of these issues are acute and sudden pain, swelling, inability to bear weight without compensation, altered gait mechanics, popping, clicking, decreased motion and flexibility, decreased power, and strength, are just a few to name.
Treatment?
Physical therapy will initially focus on the decreasing and eliminating the pain and swelling. Once these are under control or eliminated, we will then work on improving the healing of the affected bone or soft tissue. This could include modalities and exercises to improve the healing process and working on regaining the motion and strength needed to return you back to where you were before the injury. Once your strength has improved, we will work on balance and stability in order to restore function and return you back to the activities you were doing before the accident. Finally, a comprehensive home program will be set up to make sure you have the tools you need to maintain your gains and avoid this injury again in the future.
Expectations?
At your first visit you should expect a physical therapist that is there to get to know you, your current complaints, and your goals. Using this information and the information they gather during their evaluation they will set up an individualized treatment plan that will help you reach your goals and get back to your life faster. Treatments could include modalities for pain control, manual therapy to help with muscle, soft tissue, and joint healing, and exercises to restore motion and strength.